Sydney, November 27, 2018: Asia-Pacific specialist CRO Novotech announced today that clinical staff numbers in its Seoul, South Korea centre are now at 41, with 81 clinical research projects now completed. The Novotech South Korea success is largely fueled by demand for a regional CRO with international accreditation and reputation, combined with local knowledge, partnerships and expertise.

Novotech now has 10 strategic collaborations with hospitals and research institutions in the region, and 11 offices across the Asia-Pacific region. South Korea is home to 49 million people of which 83.2% reside in urban centres. The average timeline for regulatory and IRB approval is 4-5 months.

Novotech’s capabilities in South Korea are further supported by powerful partnerships with leading hospitals and medical facilities including:

The Asan Medical Centre – the largest medical institution in Korea with a total of 2,704 beds occupying about 85,000 square meters. On an average day the hospital has 11,862 outpatients, 2,557 inpatients, and 309 emergency patients, and performs about 63,791 highly sophisticated surgeries per year.

SCI-Consortium (SCIC) – a network of clinical trial centres comprising four of South Korea’s leading hospitals: Yonsei University Health System (Severance Hospital and Gangnam Severance Hospital), The Catholic University of Korea St Mary’s Hospital and Inha University Hospital. The network provides clinical trial access to over 1,500 investigators, almost 6,000 hospital beds and more than seven million patients per year.

One of the SCIC’s key strengths is its clinical trial data system with more than ten million de-identified records. Its vast database provides easy identification of potential eligible patients, allowing much faster clinical trial recruitment. At present, the SCIC has over 30,000 active patients enrolled in clinical studies.

Novotech CEO Dr John Moller said Novotech has dedicated clinical experts within our South Korean hospital and research facilities partners to support and prioritise rapid clinical processes for Novotech biopharma clients.

He said there are many compelling reasons to consider South Korea for clinical research:
– Large patient population
– Strong and efficient regulatory environment
– Increasing use of English among the population
– World-class technological infrastructure
– Few competing trials
– Highly qualified and educated medical professionals
– Low operational costs

“Our partnership relationships enable a more comprehensive understanding of local regulatory changes, access to leading PIs, strong site connections, and productive patient populations to deliver success for our clients within timelines and budgets,” Dr Moller said.

“The Novotech team is well positioned across the region to access the more than 1.4 billion people living in urban areas, which is a key factor in the decision by sponsors to include the Asia-Pacific in their global studies.”

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